Chapter Six

'So when are you going to tell him,' Risa asked as they finished dressing her, putting make-up on her and fixing her hair.

Alisa felt uncomfortable and out of her skin as she looked in the mirror and saw her reflection. 'Tell who what?' She wanted to pull out all the pins and ordainments from her hair as well as wipe her face clean.

'Mokuba,' she slapped Alisa's hand away from one of the flower pins in her hair.

'I feel that it's weird to bring something like that up, especially if it's just speculation on everyones part.' She cradled her slapped hand as she pouted in annoyance. 'But isn't this what you wanted and maybe I can fall for him.'

'Knowing you, you'll only do it to annoy his brother and runaway from your developing feelings. Either way, you'll just end up hurting him,' Risa pointed out.

'I am not developing feelings for anyone,' she quickly replied and got up from her vanity so she wouldn't have to look in the mirror at the stranger before her anymore. 'If he brings up the issue, which I doubt, I will tell him,' she felt like a broken record, 'and if it makes you feel better, I'll hint that what we have is just friendship, nothing more.'

'The brother,' Risa saw the suit hanging from her bedroom door in a clear plastic dry cleaner's bag.

'I'll give him his suit and take mine in return,' She answered as she looked up at the blue suit before pulling the door open. 'Then I will have nothing to do with him, besides when he stops by the store to get his magazines and coffee.'

'Hmm,' Risa watched her and noticed that when she was talking about the older brother her face became more animated. She seemed irritated, but when referring to having nothing to do with him anymore her features softened and she almost looked sad. Which made her certain that Alisa hadn't noticed her feelings yet or was in denial. On top of that, why keep his suit where she could constantly see it and not beside the front door were she could just be reminded of it before she left? 'If you say so.'

Alisa didn't like her tone of voice when she said that, it was as if she was referring to something yet to be proven wrong. They walked down the short hallway and into the living room where Alisa took a seat on the armchair before the coffee table. 'Of course, I know myself better than anyone else. I wonder when Yu is going to get here.'

'He'll be here shortly, it's your first date in ages and it's for business rather than pleasure,' Risa sadly stated as she took a seat on the loveseat.

'This is not a date,' she quickly told her.

'Hmm,' she wondered if she noticed the changes. That when it came to referring to dating anyone she took offense to it instead of playing it off. It was more offensive when it came to the older Kaiba brother, but that was her denial speaking ten folds.

'Hmm, what,' Alisa demanded to know.

'Just that I don't get how someone can be surrounded by so many handsome men and not be affected by them.'

'Because I don't find it interesting that I am constantly paired with one or the other,' Alisa told her. 'When I am not attracted to either.'

'Then maybe we should go to the doctor,' Risa suggested.

'Why,' she was puzzled by the suggestion.

'So that you can check on your sex drive and hormone levels, there might be something wrong with you. In fact, I found your reaction to Yugi a little out of the norm. Usually you get all flustered and can't find words to say, but you were fine the last time we saw him. You even managed to hold on tightly to Seto's jacket to keep him in check.'

'I've already said I am not attracted to Yugi anymore, why do you two keep bring that up and Kaiba said something offending,' she clarified.

'Oh, someone else knows about Yugi or did Téa call you up to tell you to ease off?'

'Téa is not like that, she was jealous in her younger years but she trust Yugi and knows that I would never do anything to hurt her trust.'

'If not her who?'

'No one important, just an idiot,' she stated and was grateful that at that moment Yu arrived to pick her up. 'Time to go,' she jumped out of her seat and rushed to get her shoes on and unlock the gate and door.

'You are in such a rush that you're not letting him in,' Risa grabbed Alisa's dress shawl, helped her put it on while pulling her long loose curls from underneath.

'Of course not, the sooner we leave the house the sooner I return home,' she opened the door and led her out after they grabbed their purses.

'Right, you can't wait to get back and change back into your sweats,' Risa rolled her eyes at her before turning to Yu, who was in front of them waiting. 'Hi.'

'Hello,' he greeted both females and was stunned by Alisa's transformation. He couldn't help but give her a quick once over, that he quickly adverted when he saw both females staring at him. 'You look nice,' he told her.

'I would hope she looks better than nice, I had to do a lot of work on her,' Risa commented.

'You make it sound like you had to perform serious surgery on me,' Alisa exasperated.

'To get you out of your sweats, yes,' Risa stated.

'I feel like everyone has it out for my sweats lately,' she muttered before looked back at Yu and found that he looked handsome in his rented tuxedo with his hair styled back with a few strands falling over his forehead. 'You look nice yourself,' she complemented him.

'Thank you,' he slightly blushed in embarrassed when she said it, considering she looked stunning.

'I am kind of hurt that you don't blush with me when I complement you,' Risa teased.

'I, what,' he became even more flustered and both females looked at each other.

'Nothing,' Alisa saved him, 'we should get going before we are late.'

'Good idea,' Yu agreed and they headed out.

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Seto hated having to mingle and make small talk, however he was invited to the charity ball and since his brother turned it down he had to show up. It was an annoying ordeal. If he had his brother or someone else he knew, it would be bearable. Talking to all the brown nosers and suck ups was tiresome, he tried to get away from having to mingle by taking a look at the items up for auction at the charity. The theme for the ball was Duel Monsters so anything related to them was out for bid, some items were worth their pound in gold since they were rare. Others, material and craftsmanship made them valuable. He stopped when he saw an interesting item up for bid, signed copies of the books he had found on Alisa's shelf. Along with winning the books, it offered a chance to meet the author and spend the day with them.

To someone who collected the books and enjoyed them, he was sure that spending the day with the author would be a nice treat. He looked at the bids so far and was shocked at how high they were going and then he found out why. It was the ability to finally meet one of the worlds most elusive and private authors. It was as if the person that won got bragging right, something that he was sure the brat would enjoy. He picked up the pen and wrote in his own bid, an outrages amount. He wouldn't give her the books or a chance to meet the author, but he would rub it in her face when he got the opportunity. It was something that would definitely ruffle her feathers.

He admired his brilliance and as he turned to go to look at another item, he was flabbergasted at the sight to the left of him. Entering the room in all her spender was the devil herself, well not quite the devil. She was wearing a stunning golden silk gown that clung to her body and showcased her small figure with appealing curves. Her hair which was usually tied back was in a loose braid with half of it pinned back by crystal flower clips and the other flowing loosely down her back in a river of dark curls. The make-up she wore was light and made her skin seem flawless, with the exception of her red stained lips. She looked beyond appealing and dare he say beautiful. She normally looked annoying, but in that moment it was as if she was plucked out of fairytale, majestic and graceful. He saw that she was looking way from him at her partner and he noticed the young manager that was always around her.

Seto suddenly felt the need to straighten his tie and make sure his dark tux looked good. Before making his way towards them, so that he could greet them and ask what in the world they were doing there. 'I am surprised to see you here,' he said as he came up beside her, making her jump.

Alisa and Yu turned to the sound of the male voice beside them, 'Guess life is just full of surprises,' Alisa answered as she noticed the male and wished her fleeting heart would stop racing so fast.

'Hello, Mr. Kaiba, it is fancy meeting you here,' Yu greeted him as he turned to face him.

'Manager Yu,' he acknowledged the young man with a nod. 'So what brings you two here?'

'Ms. Prism's items are up for auction and we came to represent our company,' Yu told him.

Alisa couldn't help but look at the man before her and admire how handsome he was in his trim fitted tuxedo that was accented by the white shirt underneath and cobalt tie with brought out his dark blue hues. His hair which was usually naturally styled was moussed and styled in a formal more classical design with a right side partition. He looked more mature and attractive, she bitterly admitted as she continued to admire his appeal. Any woman would want to be the arm candy of this man, she realized as she closely admired his height and firm built with wide shoulders. Compare to Yu, he stood out even more, although the young man wasn't left behind. His built was a little slimmer, his shoulder more narrow and his height a few inches shorter than Seto. 'I wonder what Ms. Prism has to offer,' Seto locked gazes with her and smirked when he saw he ruffled some of her pretty feathers.

'I'll have you know that my items are prized,' they weren't rare, but the last added addition made it valuable, she just prayed that whoever won her item wasn't some sick pervert or complete asshole. Those two would be the worst kind of winners and considering that it was against her will that she had been added last minute as part of the bid to make it more enticing irked her.

'If you say so,' he enjoyed messing with her. He was finding that it was his favorite pass time as of lately and considering she never backed down from a challenge it made it more appealing.

Yu didn't like how he was looking at Alisa, as if he was enjoying taunting her and riling her up. It also seemed that she wasn't against it and welcomed the challenged that he offered. Nevertheless, it seemed like they were in a rare mating ritual and were deciding who was dominate and who was submissive. Both attractive individuals gave an intense aura as they stared each other down. 'We should probably go and look around,' Yu suggested as he tried to break the two apart.

'That sounds like a good idea,' Alisa told him, but failed to look at him.

'You don't seem like someone interested in Duel Monster items,' Seto pointed out.

'Who knows there might be something around here that I might like.'

'Than shall we,' he led her in the opposite direction of where the books were.

'What, are you going to show me around,' she asked as she followed him leaving Yu to follow behind them.

'More like protect the guest from a loose cannon that goes off without warning,' he said in reference to her habit of crashing into people.

She grimaced as he reminded her of her faults, 'I find that you can really learn a lot about a person when you run into them. For example some people are kind and understand, while others are huge jerks,' she told him. 'Speaking of which, where is your kind and caring little brother?'

'He had other matters to attend to, so he couldn't make it,' he realized that he was the jerk in her reference.

'That's unfortunate, I am sure that he would have been nice company,' she mumbled as they came to the first item up for bid.

Yu felt like the third wheel, both of them lost in their own little world. Sometimes they would look for openings to provoke each other and other times they were civil. Occasionally, someone walked up to greet Kaiba and ask about his date. Once they clarified they weren't an item people would tell them that it was a shame seeing as how well they looked together. It was as if they had forgotten all about him, he had became invisible. He was disappointed in their first outing together. Although, he had to admit that she was minding herself well, she hadn't done anything embarrassing. However, she had yet to reveal how she was connected to the company.

After they walked around for a while, they were asked to all go to the banquet hall where dinner would be served shortly as well as a presentation given to talk about where the funds for the event would be used. Yu thought that would be his moment to whisk her away, but it seemed that they would be all be enjoying dinner together. This was not how his night was supposed to go, he sadly realized. Yu was about to pull her chair out, when he was beat by the older male. 'Seems like you can be chivalrous too,' she thanked Seto. Yu was left with no choice but to take the chair to the left of her, when Seto took her right.

'Only when the situation calls for it,' he boosted and they continued on.

After dinner and presentation they arrived to the end were they would announce the items up for bid and the winners. They hadn't seen her books in the showroom, since she constantly got distracted by Seto or another guest that came up to talk to them. She could only assume that they were on the last table and soon they would announce her fate. So she had nothing, but to wait and see who had won. Slowly, but surely the items were announced until they got to her items. 'You must have been disappointed that you didn't get to bid on these,' Seto told her with a smug look on his face.

'Why,' she was curious to see what he would say and why he looked so pleased.

'Because wouldn't you be interested in getting the chance to meet your favorite author and getting signed copies of her books,' he started to lose his smile when she seemed unaffected by her inability to bid on it.

'They are of no interest to me,' she told him, after all she had been the one to write them.

'But you have them at your house?'

'Of course, I have copies,' she agreed. 'The company always sends me hardcover copies every time one gets published.'

His brows knitted together as he tried to process what she said, 'What is your other job?' He asked cautiously, dreading the answer she would give him as they were about to announce the winner who bid seven thousand dollars to spend the day with her.

'Writer.'

'Seto Kaiba,' both announced at the same time and both she and him looked at each other as if a hole had opened beneath them and was about to suck them up.

'You,' they both said together as they processed what had just happened.

Yu looked at both and cringed at their fate, it was like they were magnetic poles that kept attracting each other even if they were poler. He wondered when it had started? When they first crossed paths, the day she knocked into his brother or when he found him in her home. Their last encounter at the bookshop, no, he shook his head it was before that that things had begun to change. Their intense exchange, the way they held each other and even their bickering that was hostile, didn't seem to be enough to break them apart. In fact, it brought them even closer.

'This is unfortunate,' Seto muttered.

'You're telling me,' she grumbled as she realized that she would have to spend the day with him.

'I would have never bet so much if I knew that this was going to happen,' he groaned.

'Mr. Kaiba,' Yu tried to bring him out of his stupor, 'they are calling you to go and claim your prize.'

'Worse prize ever,' he stated as he got up.

'Not like I'm ecstatic about this either,' she told him as she turned to Yu and glared. 'Why did I ever listen to you guys?'

'Because it was for a good cause,' Yu told her, finally having her attention.

'There are other authors at the office,' she complained, 'and anyone of them would have been happy to do this.'

'Chief said that you would do well,' he told her and cautiously pointed out, 'and you did.'

She turned away and looked at Seto who was on stage claiming his prize, a forced smile on his face as he took the books and certificate. 'Maybe he'll give it to Mokuba,' she prayed as she continued to gaze at his grim, but handsome face.

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A/N: I got to say poor Yu, he was never intended to be my third wheel. He was actually supposed to be Kaiba's competition, however he got beat by Mokuba. Which doesn't seem to being fairing any better, which makes me a poor writer of love triangles. *Deep sigh* maybe I'll get better at it next time. Anyways, I can't wait to see what happens in Kaiba and Alisa's upcoming encounter and you all enjoy it.